Fig. 6

Cytokines array and morphology of adherent eCTCs. Cytokines concentration was analysed in collected conditioned medium of eCTCs aged 14 days. Histograms (a) and (c) show mean spot pixel density from the array membranes (red boxes) by localized and advanced cases, respectively (data are presented as mean ± standard deviation). In all conditioned medium, detectable levels of IL-6, IL-8, and SDF-1 cytokines were found. The histograms are representative of at least three independent experiments. The array membranes pictures show one representative case. Morphology of eCTCs in adhesion isolated by localized (b) and advanced (d) cases is shown; in particular, brightfield image, phalloidin (green staining of cytoplasm), DAPI (blue staining of nuclei) and CK20 (red staining of positive cells). Scale bars 50 μm